Hydrogen Cars

Hydrogen cars come in two main varieties, fuel
cell vehicles and internal combustion engines
(ICE). Most hydrogen cars being developed today
are fuel cell vehicles using proton exchange membrane
(PEM) technology as these will be, by all accounts,
the cars of the future.

A few of the manufacturers, however, are using
hydrogen ICE technology, seeing this as an interim
step between today's gasoline or hybrid cars and
tomorrow's PEM cars. In fact, the hydrogen race
car, the BMW H2R is both the fastest hydrogen
car to date and a hybrid car as well. The BMW
H2R uses an ICE powered by either compressed hydrogen
or gasoline. The other hydrogen hybrid currently
touring the concept market is the Mazda RX-8 with
RENESIS Hydrogen Rotary Engine. The Mazda rotary
engine lends itself well to hydrogen with less
backfiring than traditionally converted ICE vehicles.

The hydrogen fuel cell cars number more than
you would think. Recently, GM has introduced the
Sequel, a sport utility concept vehicle, which
is the third generation hydrogen concept following
the Autonomy and Hy-wire vehicles from a few years
back. The DaimlerChrysler Mercedes F600 Hygenius
is another hydrogen crossover vehicle that was
recently introduced. The Ford Focus FCV is the
3rd generation hydrogen car from Ford with many
advancements since the P2000 fuel cell vehicle.

Here is a list of some of the hydrogen cars currently
being shown off by manufacturers:

BMW H2R - has set nine international and FIA-ratified
land-speed records for hydrogen cars and can
use both hydrogen and gasoline with the flip
of a switch.

In addition, as of 2010, there have been a couple
of hydrogen
cars for sale appear on the market.
These are not production vehicles from the large
automakers, however. Also in 2010, Riversimple's
Hyrban
hydrogen fuel cell car has made headway in becoming
the first open source hydrogen car with commercialization
expected before 2015.